Top10H1BvisaStatesFY2012

H1 Base Reports on the Top 10 Opportunity States for H1B Sponsorship in 2013

The US State(s) where you choose to search for an H1B Visa-sponsored job can dramatically affect your results. It's akin to casting a net into a school of fish  the higher the number of fish (in this case, companies that sponsor H1B Visas), the higher your level of opportunity of landing a job.

Having conducted extensive annual trends analysis and studied visa sponsorship patterns over the last decade, the top 10 States may slide up and down a few spots in the rankings, but below are the States that most consistently present the highest numbers of Companies that sponsor for H1B visas / the highest levels of opportunity for H1B job seekers. These top 10 States present great target locations for 2013.

Not all US States present equal levels of opportunity. Just take the state of Montana, for example. Only 16 of the state's approximately 124,000 companies have filed for a meager 28 visas so far for FY2012, placing it dead last in the nation for H1B Visa sponsorship. So if you're looking to live in the wide open spaces of Montana, you're probably out of luck. The latest information from the U.S. Bureau of Immigration shows that Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska and West Virginia are unlikely locations as well.

Choosing a large, diverse state like California or New York, on the other hand, would be a much safer bet. However, you should still keep an eye on current trends in the marketplace. New York, Florida and Maryland, for instance, have all fallen one place to the states below them; Texas, Virginia and Michigan (respectively). Although this information only reflects the first two quarters of the financial year, tracking these trends can help you determine where your best opportunities are located. And to assist you, here's a list of the Top 10 Ranked States where employers hire and file for H1B Visa Sponsorship (numbers include all H1B LCA filings):

Choosing a large, diverse state like California or New York, on the other hand, would be a much safer bet. However, you should still keep an eye on current trends in the marketplace. New York, Florida and Maryland, for instance, have all fallen one place to the states below them; Texas, Virginia and Michigan (respectively). Although this information only reflects the first two quarters of the financial year, tracking these trends can help you determine where your best opportunities are located. And to assist you, here's a list of the Top 10 Ranked States where employers hire and file for H1B Visa Sponsorship (numbers include all H1B LCA filings):

1. California: It's really no surprise that sunny California consistently ranks as the No. 1 state for visa sponsorship. Not only is it large and diverse, but Cali also has a booming tech industry that houses
Fortune 500 giants like Intel, Qualcomm, Google, Oracle, Apple and Ebay (all of which have been top visa-sponsoring companies in FY2012). Thus far, a total of 6,427 California-based companies have filed for 28,191 H1B Visas. By the end of the previous fiscal year, more than 12,300 companies from within the state had filed for a whopping 62,052 visas. For FY2012, California seems to be on track to meet (or even surpass) those numbers.

2. New Jersey: With direct access to both New York and Philadelphia, the Garden State is the 11th most populous and third most affluent (by median household income) state in the nation. During the first two quarters of FY2012, no less than 2,164 companies filed for 20,693 H1B visas. In the previous year, the state's 3840 sponsor companies requested 42,485 visas.

3. Texas: Somewhat surprisingly, Texas has risen to third on this financial year's list of visa-sponsoring states. Companies like Infosys Limited, Ericsson, Texas Instruments, Dell and Verizon have ramped up their H1B hiring efforts during the first half of FY2012. Subsequently, a total of 3,024 sponsor companies have filed for 19,107 visas so far. Compare that to the entirety of last financial year  where 5,615 companies filed for 29,170 H1B visas  and Texas may very well be on track to see a 33-percent rise in visa-sponsored positions.

4. New York: Long considered to be the ultimate gateway to the U.S., New York has slipped a little in our FY2012 rankings for H1B visa filings. With 4,853 companies filing for visas so far this fiscal year, the state seems to be on track to meet or surpass last year's number of 9,628 sponsoring organizations. However, these companies seem to be filing for less visas overall, as evidenced by the 14,564 visa filings in the first two quarters of FY2012; a number equating to less than half of the 35,350 visas filed in FY2011. That being said, don't expect the Empire State to fall out of the Top 5 anytime soon.

5. Illinois: The adopted home state of the nation's current commander-in-chief, Barak Obama, Illinois is the 5th most populous state in the country, and its position in the rankings has remained the same. Its H1B-sponsoring employers encompass a range of opportunities, from tech companies to financial organizations to institutions of higher education. The latest data shows that the state has had 1561 sponsoring employers file for 9,023 visas, which is well on pace to meet (or perhaps exceed) FY2011's numbers of 2,896 sponsoring companies and 19,209 visas.

6. Pennsylvania: Like Illinois, the Keystone State has remained relatively unchanged since the previous fiscal year's rankings. This is primarily because institutions like MasTech, Rite Aid, Deloitte, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Pennsylvania have all persisted in sponsoring employees from abroad. During the first two quarters of FY2012, the state's 1,054 H1B employers have filed for 8,413 visas; compare that to the entirety of the previous financial year, when 1,943 employers filed for 16,964 visas.

7. Massachusetts: Considered by many to be the most patriotic state in the nation (due, in no small part, to its prominent role in American history), Massachusetts also hosts some of the country's more consistent H1B visa sponsors, including Patni, EMC, Sapient and Harvard University. During the last financial year, a total of 2,496 employers sponsored 14, 960 visas. Massachusetts is on course to reach those same numbers, with 1,301 employers sponsoring 7,185 visas in the first two quarters of FY2012.

8. Virginia: One of the ostensible upstarts on this list, Virginia managed to supplant Florida in the rankings from the previous financial year's list. However, with 1,225 sponsoring companies (including CGI, REI, Netvision and Capital One) and 6,068 visas filed in the first half of FY2012, the Old Dominion state is roughly on track to match its numbers from the last financial year, when it had
2,249 companies file for 13,214 visas. Thus, the state's move in the rankings is attributable more to a decrease in Florida's number than any major increase on Virginia's part.

9. Florida: Although it's one of the most demographically diverse states in the U.S., Florida has seen a mild decline in H1B visa filings for the first half of FY2012. While its 2,041 H1B-filing employers seem to be relatively stable from FY2011's 4,367 employers (keeping in mind that we only have a half-year's data for FY 2012), the actual number of visas appear to be trending downward with only 5,713 visas filed so far  at that rate, the numbers will fall almost 4,000 short of 14,172 visa filings for FY2011.

10. Michigan: Significantly, Michigan has managed to rise three places on the list for the first half of FY2012, supplanting both Maryland and Georgia to take the tenth and final spot. While Michigan's visa-sponsoring employers appears to be trending upward (913 in the first half, when compared to 1,599 for the entire FY2011), the actual number of visas seems to be approximately the same (5,154 filed for the first half of FY2012 versus 10,298 in all of FY2011). Michigan's move is mostly attributable to a downward trend among
both employers and visas filed in the two states that were formerly above it.

So take a good look at these latest statistics and numbers, and at least consider adjusting your job searches accordingly. For more assistance and to get access to H1Base's cutting-edge H1B visa data, resources and services, check out our H1B Professional Employment Solutionspage.

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